German Cemetery Crimea

[StefanM]

Kerch...

...a city in the east of the Crimean Peninsula, was home to over 5,000 Jews before World War II - 5% of the total population. German troops took Kerch on November 16, 1941, following the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. Shortly before the German invasion, some 3,000 Jews were able to flee from the city.

The invading Wehrmacht was closely followed by SS-Sonderkommando 10b. Immediately upon arrival, the SS began repressions against the Jews. Between December 1 and 3, 1941, the members of Sonderkommando 10b shot about 2,500 Jews in the trenches outside of the city. Almost all of the remaining Jewish men, women and children were murdered by the end of the month. After launching a successful attack on Crimea, the Red Army retook Kerch on December 30, 1941.

In May 1942, following fierce battles, the Wehrmacht once again drove back the Soviet troops, taking Kerch on May 23. In the weeks that followed, the SS murdered the remaining Jews, most of whom were Krymchaks - an ethnic minority of Jewish faith which spoke a Crimean-Tatar language.

The German occupiers were at first indecisive as to whether they should consider the Krychaks as being Jews. At the end of 1941, Berlin issued an order to the mobile killing unit according to which Krymchaks were to be considered Jews and thus murdered.

Kerch was liberated by the "Russian Bear" on April 11, 1944.


There are several memorials in the Crimean city of Kerch to honour the approximately 7,000 Jews from the city and surrounding areas who were murdered by SS mobile killing units in 1941/1942.

In 1976, a memorial was dedicated to the murdered Jews in Kerch, at the site of one of the mass shootings - the former Bagerovsgo trench.




Above: Soviet Holocaust memorial at the Bagerovsgo trench

A further memorial was unveiled on another authentic site - also a former trench - in 1991. In 2010, the Jewish community erected a memorial of its own; the Jewish community also runs a Jewish museum in the city.
There are several other monuments in Kerch, most of which honour the Soviet soldiers who twice liberated the city from German occupation.



Above: Kerch, 2010, Memorial set up by the Jewish community.

[Scout]

Scenic location

[Paul D]

You know Paul...there is a lot to see in the Crimea. A person needs three or four weeks to do it right. I didn't make it to Kerch....and I really wanted to go.

Your right mate i was only there for a few days but wished i was there for weeks , i wanted to get down as far as Kerch but didn't have time , i also want to go to the area of the Kuban Bridgehead sometime , the closest i got was Abganerowo in the Kalmyk Steppe !!

[paragon man]

How many non Jews were killed around Kerch Stephan?

[Tango]

Excellent thread guys & very interesting so thanks for posting.. Cheers Terry

[StefanM]

How many non Jews were killed around Kerch Stephan?

I suspect many thousands of non-Jews were killed around Kerch but not as many murdered.

Across Eastern Europe including the Crimea peninsula the so-called “Holocaust by 
Bullets,” took more Jewish lives than the German concentration camps.

[Frundsberg]

Sorry but do not we have a special section for all these holocaust topics? This thread was about German wargraves in Crimea. It happens all the time that sooner or later every topic leads to the holocaust, maybe moderators can do something and move all holocaust postings to the propper section or just delete them.

[StefanM]

Many revisionists use the same comparison of total victim numbers to attempt to diminish the uniqueness of the tragedy of the mass murders of Jews that we now describe by the term of the Holocaust.

Revisionist views are NOT permitted to be presented for discussion on this forum. So let us not go further down that road or this thread will be expunged.

[Frundsberg]

So the best way is to keep all holocaust threads in special section and when somebody starts a thread about German wargraves it is not OK to start talking about holocaust in the same thread. It is the same when for example we have a nice and interesting thread about Luger P08 and then someone starts to write that similar weapons were also used in KZ camps. Yes, they were but what is the point? And where is the connection between German wargraves and holocaust?

[StefanM]

Why those German graves are there is an important part of the story of Crimea in WWII as is knowing about the Jewish graves and Red Army graves that are also there and commemorated.